In the related art, in order to reduce the burden on the environment, hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles which are driven using a rotary drive force of a motor have been used. On such a type of hybrid vehicle or electric vehicle which is driven using the rotary drive force of the motor, a power supply device such as batteries, inverters, motors and generators, to which the voltage is applied for driving, is mounted. Due to a high voltage value of an electrical current flowing between the power supply devices, as a cable which connects the power supply devices to each other, a cable thicker than a wire harness cable which transmits a signal line or distributes a power to each electronic device is used. In addition, in order to connect these thick cables to the power supply devices, various terminal blocks (for example, refer to PTL 1) have been used in the related art.
The terminal block disclosed in the PTL 1 includes a plurality of band plate shaped terminal fittings, a housing of insulation properties which accommodates the terminal fittings, and a shield shell which covers the outside of the housing and is fixed to a casing body of the power supply device. The terminal fittings are configured of a thick metal plate and are connected to the power supply device. The terminal fittings are superimposed on the terminal fittings attached to a terminal of the cable, interposed by bolts and nuts which are screwed to each other, and then the terminal fittings are connected to each other. In order to secure a creeping distance between a plurality of the individual terminal fittings and to enable easy screwing of the bolts and nuts, plural terminal fittings are positioned on the same plane as each other. The housing is provided at the outer edge of the power supply device.
The terminal block connects the cable to the power supply device in such a manner that the bolts and nuts are screwed to each other, and the terminal fittings which are superimposed on each other are sandwiched therebetween.